When it came to the first conversation between American and Iranian presidents since 1979, Hassan Rouhani again had the upper hand on President Obama.

Obama called a press conference this afternoon to make the bold announcement, but Rouhani — who has become an avid social media user even as his people are restricted from using such sites — scooped the American president on his Twitter account.

Then: “@HassanRouhani to @BarackObama: I express my gratitude for your #hospitality and your phone call. Have a good day Mr President.”

That made clear it was Obama who picked up the phone, even as Rouhani turned down a request earlier in the week to meet with Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Senior administration officials brushed off that denied meeting as “too complicated for Iranians to do at this point.”

Obama was expected to remark on the continuing resolution passed by the Senate today, but began his remarks with the Iran announcement.

“Just now, I spoke on the phone with President Rouhani of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The two of us discussed our ongoing efforts to reach an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. I reiterated to President Rouhani what I said in New York. While there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward and success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution,” Obama said.

“…Going forward, President Rouhani and I have directed our teams to continue working expeditiously in cooperation with the P-5-plus-1 to pursue an agreement. And throughout this process, we’ll stay in close touch with our friends and allies in the region, including Israel.”

Obama was determined to cement a historical marker for himself. “The very fact that this was the first communications between an American and Iranian president since 1979 underscores the deep mistrust between our countries, but it also indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history,” he said. “I do believe that there is a basis for a resolution. Iran’s supreme leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. President Rouhani has indicated that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.”

“…A path to a meaningful agreement will be difficult. And at this point, both sides have significant concerns that will have to be overcome. But I believe we’ve got a responsibility to pursue diplomacy, and that we have a unique opportunity to make progress with the new leadership in Tehran. I also communicated to President Rouhani my deep respect for the Iranian people.”

A senior administration official said in a late afternoon conference call with reporters that the call was about 15 minutes long and “Obama opened by congratulating President Rouhani on his election as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“He noted the history of mistrust between our two nations, but also noted the constructive statements that President Rouhani had made since his election, including over the last several days in New York,” the official said.

Rouhani took a whirlwind turn through the Big Apple during the General Assembly this week, sitting down with think tanks and news outlets to gush a supposedly reformist message and claim Iran has no designs on nuclear weapons.

CNN even aired an interview in which the network claimed that the new president admitted that the Holocaust happened.

“I have said before that I am not a historian. And that when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the holocaust it is the historians that should reflect on it. But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews is reprehensible and condemnable,” the network’s translator said Rouhani said. “Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn. The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference whether that life is Jewish life, Christian, or Muslim. For us it is the same. The taking of human life is something our religion rejects. But this does not mean that on the other hand you can say Nazis committed crimes against a group now therefore they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it. This, too, is an act that should be condemned. There should be an even-handed discussion.”

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency cried foul at the airbrushed translation and the Wall Street Journal verified the Persian version: “I have said before that I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the aspects of historical events, but generally we fully condemn any kind of crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and non-Jews, the same way that if today any crime is committed against any nation or any religion or any people or any belief, we condemn that crime and genocide. Therefore, what the Nazis did is condemned, (but) the aspects that you talk about, clarification of these aspects is a duty of the historians and researchers, I am not a history scholar.”

"Times of Israel" correspondent claims that Iran has crossed the threshold and now has at least one bomb. The security establishment types that briefed the writer, Yerushalmi, believe this is the reason for the charm offensive; the Iranians have reached their goal. My take - this could account for Netanyahu's somewhat desperate tone in his comments beseeching Obama about Iran's nukes. The same AtlasShrugs piece that quotes Yerushalmi also states that most Israel security types do not believe that Iran yet has the bomb. Of those who believe that it does, they imply there is up to one year to stop the process of making a deliverable weapon of mass destruction.

In my opinion, a series of blunders have brought us to this point, not the least of which is PM Netanyahu's acquiescence to passivity on Iran that both Dubya Bush and Obama have shown. This includes Bush's passion for eliminating the Hussein regime in Iraq on behalf of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf arabs, and the resultant impasse and pro-Iranian outcome in Iraq. Obama of course has contributed more than his share through his kowtowing to Iran, including during the June 2009 Green 'revolution' and his fascination with the Muslim Brotherhood while (at least in his first term) spending considerable energies hectoring and jabbing at Israel.

This "face" thing in the endless Asian variations is easily exaggerated and misinterpreted, misunderstood...deliberately ...evasively.

We westerners don't associate quite as much importance to "Face"; we Americans can shrug it off, or not. Not too long ago, Asian wars were started, and personal killings were instituted by perceived individual social insults. In some primitive quarters they probably still are.

For us, the question may be stated, "Who called whom?", or, "Who was put on 'hold'?" "Who first picked up the phone." On and on and on.

The Iranian press will be gloating, as if the submissive Obama needed to talk to their Leader. We don't know if Obama is a closet Muslim or not; his Asian Muslim Third World years surely have left strong impulses just under his thick facade.

Maybe it would've been better if Obama had better stage managed, or our "State" department had better stage managed, this sloppy scenario with Th' Media's reaction more accurately thought through.